Scientists have worked out why airline meals taste so bad - and the chef isn't to blame.Research shows that the sort of noise we are subjected to inside aircraft cabin affects our taste buds, reducing our sense of saltiness and sweetness - and increasing crunchiness。

　　“飞机餐”难吃的谜底终于揭晓了，原来我们不能怪罪于厨师的厨艺，“噪音”才是我们总是觉得飞机上的食物不好吃的真正原因。科学家分析，机舱内的高分贝噪音影响了我们的味觉器官“味蕾”，同时降低了我们对甜味以及盐度的判断。

　　The finding could explain why even the most tempting-smelling in-flight meals taste bland and have the texture of cardboard。

　　这项研究结果解释了为什么即使飞机上的食物色、香俱全，我们也始终感受不到食物的美味，觉得飞机餐“味如嚼蜡”。

　　'There's a general opinion that aeroplane foods aren't fantastic,' said Andy Woods, a researcher from Unilever's laboratories and the University of Manchester. 'I'm sure airlines do their best - and given that, we wondered if there are other reasons why the food would not be so good. One thought was perhaps the background noise has some impact。

　　研究者说，关于飞机餐难吃的事实已经得到了广泛的认同，一方面，我的确相信机务人员已经尽力了，他们尽可能得满足乘客味觉上的需要。但是为什么飞机餐还是这么难吃呢？我们进行了一项实验后才认定其实是飞机上的噪音影响了我们的食欲。

　　'There was no previous research on this, so we went about seeing if the hunch was correct.' To test the theory, 48 diners were blindfolded and fed sweet foods such as biscuits or salty ones such as crisps, while listening to silence or noise through headphones。

　　因为之前没有任何关于“飞机餐”的实验，这只是我们的猜想，所以我们为此进行了一项测试，在测试中，48名就餐者被“蒙上双眼”尝试吃一些甜食：比如，饼干，或者薯片之类的，此时让他们的听觉处于舒服的状态，让他们听听音乐或者保持绝对安静。

　　Each volunteer rated the foods for flavour and said how much they liked them. Background noise led to the foods being rated less salty or sweet. They were also perceived as more crunchy, the journal Food Quality and Preference reports。

　　每一位就餐者都觉得食物很好吃，他们很喜欢。原来人们尝试食物的时候，背景声音如果太大声则会影响人们的食欲。

　　Vocabulary:

　　chef n. 厨师，大师傅